Could your firm be the next BP? Are you one step away from a gigantic failure that will toss you into the public eye, and savage your bottom line and corporate reputation? On his blog, human resources expert John Sullivan notes how people management and human factors can trip you up. Here are some items on his checklist for predicting corporate disaster.
ABSENTEEISM
A shorthanded team or one seeded with temporary under-skilled labour, particularly in maintenance and safety roles, will likely face increased errors rates and could lead the team to postpone activities that may be crucial to avoid a mishap. “Significant absenteeism may be symptomatic of deeper problems,” he says.
EXCESSIVE O.T.
Chronic fatigue and stress may also contribute to increased error rates and postponement of activities that are important.
TEMPORARY HELP
If temporary labour comprises a high percentage of a critical work team, their unfamiliarity with processes and standards could set the foundation for a critical incident.
VACANCIES
A high vacancy rate in jobs could indicate important work in the organization is being postponed, ignored, or reallocated to under-skilled labour.
EMPLOYEE SOUNDINGS
Low or dramatically decreasing performance, satisfaction, and engagement scores could indicate future troubles.
PRODUCTIVITY
Sudden bursts or declines in work force productivity may indicate policies are being violated, process steps are being sidestepped, or warning measures are being ignored.
COST CONTAINMENT
If your attempts to contain your costs go too far, it may just encourage shortcuts and the use of inferior materials. “Oversight is needed to ensure that short-term savings do not result in long-term costly disasters,” he stresses.
WHISTLEBLOWING
If you have frequent whistleblowing reports, it could indicate a problem in the ranks and with your processes. On the other hand, a total lack of whistleblowing reports does not necessarily mean you are in the clear. It could indicate employees are uninterested, have experienced retribution in the past when they spoke up, or are unaware of how to report issues.
ACCIDENTS
High accident rates can indicate that procedures are not being followed. Remember that unresolved safety issues, routine violation of safety rules, or poor safety training can be a harbinger of larger safety issues.
ERRORS
Similarly, a high error rate may indicate that procedures are not being followed or that the training is lax. Slowness to respond to major errors is also a warning signal – perhaps the most critical indicator, he says.
TURNOVERS AND TRANSFERS
If a lot of employees are leaving a manager, that may indicate he or she is weak and potentially prone to higher rates of major problems.
COMPLAINTS
Beware of a sudden increase in complaints or grievances, which would signal upcoming major problems.
MANAGEMENT LOAD
If the ratio of managers to employees leads to the managers having too many individuals to oversee, poor supervision may increase, with dramatic consequences.
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Whenever major new technology is implemented, the likelihood of a significant failure increases dramatically.
MANAGEMENT
Invite staff to reduce information overload
IT engineer Nathan Zeldes believes reducing information overload in your organization can give you one of the best returns on investment of any activity you pursue. “With knowledge workers losing about one day a week to this issue, anything that will reclaim them that time is bound to repay itself very rapidly for the company, while improving the victims’ quality of life,” he writes on his Challenge Information Overload blog. The problem, however, is that some of the available organizational solutions may seem restrictive or oppressive to at least some employees, reducing the chances of success.
To get better buy-in, he recommends:
Involve the employee base from the very start. “Announce your intent to tackle the program early, before the solutions are a done deal!” he stresses. If you set up a team to devise solutions, consider including employees from all layers in the hierarchy, thus representing your full base of technology users.
